Smoked Old Fashioned
An Old Fashioned served under a dome of wood smoke. The 2010s bar-theatre version of the oldest cocktail — and worth doing when the smoke is a seasoning, not a show.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Stir the bourbon, demerara syrup and bitters with ice in a mixing glass for 25 seconds and strain over a large cube in a rocks glass; express an orange peel over it and drop it in.
Place a small pile of wood chips, or a cinnamon stick, on a heatproof board and light it with a kitchen torch until it smoulders.
Cover the smouldering wood and the drink together with a glass cloche or an upturned large glass, and let the smoke fill the dome for 30 to 60 seconds.
Lift the cloche at the table and serve at once, while the smoke is on the surface.
A thoughtful finish
- Less smoke than you think. Thirty seconds under the dome is a seasoning; three minutes is a campfire. The smoke should be a note on the nose, not the flavour of the drink.
- Fruit woods — apple, cherry — are sweeter and gentler than hickory or mesquite, which can turn acrid. A cinnamon stick is the easiest and most forgiving.
- If you have no cloche, smoke the empty glass: light the chips, invert the glass over them for a minute, then build the drink in the smoky glass. It is subtler and works.
Common mistakes
- Over-smoking. The drink tastes of ash and the whiskey is lost.
- Smoking a cheap bourbon; the smoke does not hide it, it highlights it.
- Lighting the wood with a lighter that leaves fuel smell. A torch or a match.
A few good questions.
How do you smoke a cocktail at home?
Burn a pinch of wood chips or a cinnamon stick on a board, cover it and the finished drink with an upturned glass or bowl for thirty seconds to a minute, and serve. A smoking gun does the same thing more precisely.
Does the smoke change the taste?
Mostly the aroma: wood smoke on the nose makes the bourbon's oak and vanilla read as deeper. Too much and it tastes bitter and ashy.
Which wood?
Applewood, cherry or oak are the gentle choices. Hickory and mesquite are strong and can be acrid. A cinnamon stick is the home shortcut.
Is it a gimmick?
The dome-lifting is theatre; the effect is real if restrained. A lightly smoked Old Fashioned is a different and good drink; a heavily smoked one is a worse one.
Variations
- Old Fashioned — The original, unsmoked.
- Maple Old Fashioned — With maple syrup.
- Oaxaca Old Fashioned — Tequila and mezcal with agave.
- Rum Old Fashioned — Aged rum, sugar and bitters.
Where it comes from
c. 2010s · United States
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
Smoking cocktails — trapping wood smoke under a cloche with the finished drink, or smoking the glass before pouring — came out of the craft bars of the early 2010s, when kitchen smoking guns and culinary torches crossed to the bar. The Old Fashioned was the obvious candidate: bourbon’s vanilla and caramel take to smoke the way barbecue does, and the glass cloche lifting to release a cloud at the table became a signature of a certain kind of bar. No one invented it; a dozen bars claim their own. Done well, the smoke is an aroma on the first sip and gone by the third. Done badly it tastes of an ashtray.
Sources
- Dave Arnold, Liquid Intelligence, 2014 (book)
- Robert Simonson, The Old-Fashioned, 2014 (book)
- Punch, 'The Rise of the Smoked Cocktail', 2017 (article)
Strength. About 1.54 US standard drinks at an estimated 32.9% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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